the virginia 5th district is conservative leaning and mccain won it with 50.6% of the vote. it is traditionally a republican stronghold and has become somewhat less so. and it is represented by a democrat. >> virginia's 5th district is the size of new jersey and it is a triangle shape with the sharltsville region, home to the university of virginia and thomas jefferson's home down to the south side of virginia, north carolina border that includes the city of martinsville, danville and part of lynchburg. the economy has hit the district hard. their unemployment tops 20%. it's bad, but not quite as bad as elsewhere in the district. there is unemployment continues to be a problem throughout the district. there have been a number of foreclosures, obviously like everywhere. people who have their jobs, their pay has stagnated for the last few years. so it's certainly a big problem here. tom perriello is a moderate democrat. whereas on some of the big ticket priorities on president obama and the democrats, he voted in favor of health care reform and voted in favor of the cap and tr